sportiani» (Dbserüer
Page 4
Fightingfor the Innocent
c o n t i n u e d f r o m front
deem ed state property.
A s for O regon, the overall prison
population stands at 13,438 strong.
W ith $ 135,000 earm arked for the
O regon Innocence Project’s initial
annual budget, about h a lf those
m onies are designated to the full time
legal director position. The rest o f
that m oney goes tow ards investiga
tions, administration, testing, experts,
and w hatever is necessary to litigate
and review the cases.
R esearch show s that num ber one
reason people continue to end up in
j a il
u n ju s tly
is e y e w itn e s s
misidentification.
K aplan explains how incorrect
identifications can stem from a num
ber o f reasons; ev ery th in g from
w hat’s show n to the eyew itness; the
m ethod o f which evidence and sus
pects are displayed to a w itness; and
other factors which can corrupt the
ability to properly I.D. som eone.
Puracal, also an appellate attor
ney, says 30 years o f science proves
how m alleable hum an m em ories re
ally are, something she’s experienced
firsthand. In 2012 she successfully
re p re s e n te d h e r b r o th e r J a s o n
Puracal, an A m erican, attaining his
freedom after he had spent nearly two
years in a N icaraguan jail on false
drug charges.
Puracal calls cases like her broth
ers and others, “opportunities” to
examine what went wrong in the crimi
nal justice system.
O ne o f the key com ponents o f the
work by the Oregon Innocence Project
is keeping it absolutely pro bono for
any clients they take on.
Operating in conjunction with the
Oregon Justice R esource C enter and
M etropolitan Public D efender Ser
vices, Inc., the O regon Innocence
46 Million Rides
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3
W hen the Y ellow L ine o p en ed in
2004, there w as a 50 percent in
crease in the num ber o f new b u si
nesses along the avenue, and that
num ber continues to grow . A bout
h a lf a dozen housing developm ents
have o pened o r are under co n stru c
tion w ithin w alking distance to the
M A X stations.
T h ere are m ore than 360 new
Project is currently supported m ostly
by private donations. M oving for
w ard, K aplan says their services
should ultim ately be supported by
the com m unity.
“So that m eans that w hether it’s
governm ent funding o r it’s private
funding, w e as a com m unity have to
look at it, and say, w e ’ve created this
system. This system has flaws in it,
we can see the flaw s, we know what
they are so we have to take a respon
sibility for that— and th at’s a finan
cial responsibility,” Puracal says.
“T he m ost im portant thing is
that the defendant, the inm ate, that
he not be paying for the state ’s
m istake. T hat sh o u ld n ’t be his re
sp o n sib ility ,” K aplan says.
T he ju stic e advocates say it’s
also going to take the c o m m u n ity ’s
support to help innocent inm ates
tran sitio n into the ‘real w o rld ’ once
they are liberated.
h o u sin g a p a rtm e n ts an d co n d o s
along Interstate A v en u e since the
Y ellow Line opened in 2004, T riM et
officials said.
O ne o f the first ap artm en t h o u s
ing projects to open w as the 54-unit
Patton Park that w as built on the site
o f a rundow n hotel. O pened in 2009,
it provided the first large-scale af-
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“ It’s a really hard life w hen you
get out. In fact, in a lot o f states
p eople w ho are exonerated, even
after being in p rison w rongfully 5
years, 1 0 y e a rs ,2 0 y e a rs ,d o n ’te v en
get the sam e services as a paro lee,”
says K aplan, “ W hen w e ’ve taken
so m eo n e ’s life aw ay, especially for
m any, m any o f the m o stly — I ’m
g o n n a say m en— w e ’ve taken aw ay
the years o f th eir life w here they
w ould be in school, getting jo b train
ing, starting fam ilies, all this, and
they lose that o p p o rtu n ity .”
T w en ty -sev en states have som e
form o f a co m pensation law for m en
and w om en w ho have been found
innocent after serving tim e behind
bars, though the services and p ay
out d iffer in each state and can take
years to fully collect. O reg o n is not
» one o f these states.
Part o f the O regon Innocence
P ro ject’s w ork w ill include getting a
law on the books that h elp s people
unfairly convicted “get back on their
feet” once out.
P u rac a l’s b ro th er w as assaulted
m u ltip le tim es in prison and starved
fo rd ab le ho u sin g along Interstate
A venue that included a d o zen fa m
ily-sized units w ith three bedroom s.
T he building also houses a bi-lin-
gual day care facility on the ground
level.
W ith a focus to bring displaced
resid en ts b ack to the co m m unity,
q u alified first-tim e b u y ers fo r the
5 7 -u n it K illingsw orth S tation co n
d o m in iu m p ro ject w ere elig ib le for
do w n p ay m en t assistan t through
th e P o rtla n d H o u sin g B u re a u ’s
D ow n Paym ent A ssistance Loan
p ro g r a m . T h e h o u s in g b u re a u
p a r tn e r e d w ith th e M in o r ity
H o m eo w n ersh ip A ssistan ce C o l
laborative to identify and select eli
gible hou seh o ld s to receive these
loans.
S ince the d ecisio n to build the
m etro a re a ’s first M A X line in 1980,
there has been m ore than $11.5 b il
lio n in d ev elo p m en t w ithin w alking
d is ta n c e o f th e M A X sta tio n s,
T riM et officials said. L ight rail is a
p ro v en cataly st fo r developm ent.
T h e tra n s it a g e n c y h a s a lso
w o rk ed to su p p o rt local co n trac
tors. B y elim inating barriers for small
b u s in e s s e s , o fte n m in o r ity - o r
w o m en -o w n ed , T riM et has created
a national m odel o f inclusion for
so m uch he lost 30 pounds. O nce
out, he ex p lain ed in an interview
w ith A ssociated P ress that the goal
o f helping his young son, w ho was
affected w ith D ow n S yndrom e, was
w hat gave him hope behind bars.
“I w as alw ays th in k in g o f him . I
knew I n eed ed to en d ure this, to get
out, and reunite w ith him . H e gave
m e hope," the now 37 y ear old e x o n
erated p riso n er explained.
H is siste r says Jaso n has a d
ju ste d w ell back into life to a large
extent because o f the services and
support he receiv ed from the c o m
m unity upon his release.
Puracal says the people o f O r
egon and around the globe will all be
n e c e s s a r y p ie c e s to h e lp th e
w rongly co n v icted get back in sync.
T he O regon In nocence Project
urges p eo p le to su p port them by
v o lunteering th eir tim e o r m aking
financial con trib u tio ns. F or m ore
inform ation about the organization
and
how
to
h e lp ,
v is it
o reg o n in n o cen ce.o rg . F or m ore in
form ation on the national o rg an iza
tion, visit in n o cen cep ro ject.o rg .
D is a d v a n ta g e d B u sin e s s E n te r
prises (D B E ) firm s w ho previously
have been unable to com pete for
large con stru ctio n contracts.
D B E firm s secured 18 percent o r
$35 m illion o f Y ellow L ine contract
dollars. F ast forw ard to the P ort
land-M ilw aukie L ig h t R ail T ransit
P ro je c t n o w u n d e r c o n stru c tio n
w here a reco rd 127 D B E firm s have
w orked on the project, totaling $ 154
m illion in contracts.
“It’s b een so g ratifying to see
how w e ’ve helped these sm all firm s
grow th eir business, expand into
new areas and create fam ily-w age
jo b s for o th ers,” said M cF arlane.
T he M A X Y ellow line opened
fo u r m onths ahead o f schedule and
about $25 m illion u n d er budget. It
ex p an d ed the M A X system to 44
m iles w ith 64 stations.
Since the Y ellow L ine opened in
M ay 2004, the M A X system has
expanded to 52 m iles and 87 stations
serving all three co u n ties in our
re g io n . T h e M A X G re e n L in e
o p en ed in 2009, and the re g io n ’s
sixth M A X construction project, the
Portland-M ilw aukie Light Rail T ran
sit P roject w ill open on Saturday,
Sept. 12, 2015 brin g ing the M A X
system to 6 0 m iles an d 97 stations.
Charles Washington
Past Publisher of the Portland O bserver
In memory o f on outstanding and dedicated
member of Portland's Longest Standing
M inority Pidrlieation.
or11 attb (Ohscrncv